Parking brake controlled ignition and light switch, and gearshift lever lock



Feb. 28, 1950 w. H. MULLINS ET AL 2,

PARKING BRAKE CONTROLLED IGNITION AND LIGHT SWITCH, AND GEAR SHIFT LEVER LOCK Filed Nov. 1, 1945 3 Sheets$heet l Feb. 28, 1950 w. H. MULLINS ET AL 2,499,276

PARKING BRAKE CONTROLLED IGNITION AND LIGHT SWITCH, AND GEAR SHIFT LEVER LOCK 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 1, 1945 60 3 M 4/15 N 5 1 k L E ii E W L M v-vv ZZz'ns WMG enZ r-y MJLMMM PARKING BRAKE CONTROLLED IGNITION AND LIGHT SWITCH, AND GEAR SHIFT LEVER LOCK Feb. 28, 1950 A w H. MULLINS ETAL 2,499,276

Filed NOV. 1, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 To ENG/NE 4.0 IGNITION 2??W =5 59 y 57 55 T -64 WHMuZZz'ns L5: 47 WMGeniry WWW Patented Feb. 28, 1950 PARKING BRAKE C ONTROLLED IGNITION AND LIGHT SWITCH, AND GEARSHIF'I' LEVER LOCK William H. Mullins and William M. Gentry, South Boston, Va.

Application November 1, 1945, Serial No. 626,084

6 Claims. 1

This invention relates to motor vehicles and more particularly to safety switches for the ignition and lighting circuits of the vehicle.

An object of this invention is to provide switches interposed in the ignition and lighting circuits which are spring-pressed to circuit closing position and are moved to circuit breaking position when the emergency or parking brake is in braking position.

Another object of this invention is to provide a pair of switches interposed in the ignition and lighting circuits which are spring-pressed to circuit closing position and which are moved to circuit breaking position upon movement of the emergency or parking brake to braking position, and to also provide a pair of shunt switches of the snap or toggle type which are shunted across the ignition and lighting switches, the shunt switches being manually moved to circuit closing position and being moved to circuit breaking position when the emergency brake lever is moved to released position.

A further object of this invention is to provide a safety means of this kind which is combined with and operated by the gear shift lock embodied in our copending application, Serial No. 598,306, filed June 8, 1945, for Gear shift locking device, now Patent No. 2,411,455, dated Nov. 19, 1946.

To the foregoing objects, and others which may hereinafter more fully appear, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts, as will be more specifically referred to and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, but it is to be understood that changes, variations, and modifications may be resorted to which fall within the scope of the invention as claimed.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a detail side elevation of a device constructed according to an embodiment of this invention mounted on the steering column of a vehicle, the vehicle being shown partly broken away and in section,

Figure 2 is an enlarged side elevation partly in section of the device with the housing cover removed,

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view showing the electric circuits embodied in this invention, and

Figure 5 is a schematic view of the electric circuits.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral l0 designates the steering column of a vehicle and the numeral I I designates a gear shifter rod disposed on the upper side of the steering column In. The steering column Ill and the gear shifter member I I extend downwardly through an opening l2 formed in the rear wall l3 of the engine compartment.

A housing, generally designated as It, is clamped onto the steering column I 0 and includes complementary housing members l5 anad it which are formed with a slot or opening I! within which the gear shifter member II is adapted to loosely engage and is also formed with a counterslot i8 within which the steering column i0 is adapted to engage and the two housing members l5 and I 6 are tightly clamped on the steering column in by means of fastening members IS. The housing members l5 and it are clamped together above the gear shifter member II by means of a pair of fastening members Isa. A slide 2| engages in the confronting sides of the housing members l5 and i6 and is formed with a gear shift locking bolt 20 extending from the housing members l5 and It.

A keeper 22 is fixedly secured to the gear shifter rod I l and disposed in a position whereby the keeper member 22 is adapted to engage the bolt 20 when the latter is moved inwardly toward the gear shifter member II, as will be hereinafter described. The slide 2| has extending laterally therefrom a bolt 23 which extends through an opening 24 formed in the housing member l6. An elongated bar 25 is mounted on the bolt 23 and extends downwardly and is pivotally connected to a rock lever 26 which is secured to the lower portion of the housing member IS. A spring 21 is connected at one end to the bolt 23 and at the other end to a stationary bolt 28 secured to and extending laterally from the upper end portion of the housing It. The bar 25 and the slide 2| are moved downwardly so as to position the bolt 20 in the path of the keeper 22 by means of a flexible lever operator 29, which is connected at one end, as at 30, to the emergency or parking brake lever 3|. The brake lever is 3! is rockably carried by a bearing 32, which is secured to a supporting bar 33 extending between the wall I3 and the dash board 34. The flexible member 29 is slidably mounted in a sheath 35, which is fixedly clamped by a clamping member 38 to a bracket 31 dependingly secured to the supporting bar 33. The lower end of the flexible member 29 is connected to a spring 38 and the latter is connected, as at 39, to the extended end of the rock lever 26. In this manner when the brake lever 3| is pulled inwardly 3 with respect to the vehicle body to a braking position, the flexible member 2| will be pulled upwardly and rocking lever 26 will pull the slide member 2| downwardly so that the bolt 25 will be disposed in the path of the swinging movement of the keeper 22.

In order to provide a means whereby the lighting and ignition circuits of the vehicle will be cut of! at the time the brake lever 3| is moved to a braking position, I have provided a pair of switches 40 and 4| which are spring pressed to a normal circuit closing position. The switches 40 and 4| are secured to the top wall of a switch housing, generally designated as 42, and each includes a button or operator 4! and 44 respectively, projecting upwardly through the top wall of the housing 42. The bar 25 has extending therefrom a switch operator 45 disposed in the path of the buttons 43 and 44 so that when the bar 25 is pulled downwardly with the brake lever 4| in braking position, the operator 45 will push the buttons 43 and 44 inwardly to a circuit breaking position and thereby break the electric circuits to both the ignition and lighting circuits of the vehicle. V

In order to provide a means whereby the ignition or lighting circuits may be selectively closed at the time the switches 40 and 4| are in circuit breaking position, I have provided shunt switches 46 and 41 which are secured to inner walls 48 and 49 respectively of the housing 42. The switches 46 and 41 are below the switches 40 and 4| and each includes an operating lever to and respectively extending inwardly. The switches 46 and 4! are of the snap or toggle type which are adapted to remain in either circuit closing or circuit breaking position depending on the position of the operating lever therefor. In the present instance the operating levers it and II are disposed in confronting position and normally are inclined upwardly and inwardly, as shown in Figure 2. An operator 52 is carried by the bar 25 and is normally disposed below the levers 5t and 5i and will normally move with the bar 25 without movement of the levers 5Q audit. With the bar 25v downwardly and the switches 4|! and 4| in circuit breaking position, the ignition circuit may be closed by moving the switch 46 to an open position. This is accomplished by pulling downwardly on a ring 53, which is connected by means of a connecting member 54 to the operator 50 of the switch 46.

The lighting circuit may also be closed when the switch 4| is in circuit breaking position by downward pull on a ring 55 connected to the lever or operator 5| by a connecting member 55. When the operating members 50 and 5| are pulled downwardly to a circuit closing position, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 4; when the brake lever 3| is moved to a released position the bar 25 will move upwardly and operator 52 will engage the levers 50 and 5|, so as to move these levers upwardly or inwardly of the housing 42 to a circuit breaking position with respect to the switches 46 and 41.

' Referring now to the schematic diagram in Figure 5, the switch 40 is interposed in the ignition circuit being connected by conductor 51 to the ignition switch 58 and connected by a conductor 59 to the tension coil normally connected with the ignition switch 53. The shunt switch 46 is connected across the switch 30- by means of conductors 60 and iii. The switch 4| is interposed in the lighting circuit being connected by means of a conductor 62 to the lighting switch Gil 4 It. The shunt switch 41 is connected across the switch 4| by conductors 54 and 65.

The housing 42 is fixedly'secured to the housing 4| being provided at its upper end with a flange 66 having a pair of notches 61 therein through which fastening members 68 engage so that the housing 42 may be lengthwise adjusted with respect to the housing i4. A pair of inwardly projecting ears 69 are carried by the walls 48 and 49 and are formed with elongated slots I6 through which fastening members engage.

In the use and operation of this device the sheath 35 is anchored at one end by the clamping member 36 carried by the bracket 31 and the opposite end of the sheath 35 is clamped to the upper portion of the housing I4 by means of a clamp 12. When the brake lever ii is in released position the bar 25 will be in an uppermost position as shown in Figures 2 and 3. The switches and 4| will be in circuit closing position so that the ignition circuit may be closedv by means of the normal ignition switch and the lighting circuits may be closed by the normal lighting switch. When the vehicle is stopped and the emergency or parking brake lever 3| is pulled to a braking position by rocking of this lever to the right, as viewed in Figure 1, lever 2% will be rocked to pull the bar 25 downwardly and switch operator will thereupon strike the buttons 43 and 4% so that the switches it and 4| will be in a circuit breaking position. The shunt switches 46 and 41 will normally be in a circuit breaking position with the operators 5@ and Bi inclined upwardly and inwardly as shown in Figure 2.

In the event it is desired to operate the engine and to turn on the lights with the brakelever iii in braking position, the switch operating members 53 and may be pulled downwardly so that the switches 55 and 37 will be in a circuit closing position. The usual ignition and lighting switches may then be moved to a circuit closing position. With the switches and d? in circuit closing position when the brake lever $6 is moved .to a released position the operator 52 will move the switch levers 5d and 50 upwardly to circuit breaking position while the buttons 53 and M are released so that the switches Q9 and M will simultaneously be moved to a circuit closing position. In this manner there will not be any lag in time between the breaking of the circuits through movement of switches GB and 46 and the closing of the circuits by release of operators 43 and 44 of switches 50 and 4!.

The exact configuration illustrated is regarded as the optimum but some of thedesirable results inherent in this disclosure may be obtained by various slight modifications including some departure from the exact configuration shown, and it is, therefore, requested that the scope of the invention should be regarded as limited only by the terms of the claims.

What we claim is: I

1. The combination with an emergency brake lever, and the ignition and lighting circuits of a vehicle, of a pair of switches interposed one each in said circuits, means biasing said switches to circuit closing position, a slide member, means supporting said slide member, means connecting said slide member with said brake lever, and means operatively connected to said slide member engageable with said switches whereby movement of said lever to braking position with movement of said slide member will move said switches to circuit breaking position.

2. The combination set forth in claim 1 including a spring constantly urging said slide member away from said switches.

3. The combination as set forth in claim 1 including a manually operable shunt switch across each of said first switches.

4. The combination as set forth in claim 1 including a snap switch shunted across each of said first switches, and means operatively connected to said slide member engageable with said snap switches for moving the latter to circuit breaking position when said lever is moved to released position.

5. The combination with an emergency brake lever, and the ignition and lighting circuits of a vehicle, of a pair of switches interposed one each in said circuits, means biasing said switches to circuit closing position, means connected to said brake lever for operation thereby and correlated with said switches for moving the latter to circuit breaking position when said lever is in braking position, and a pair of manually operable switches shunted across said first switches.

6. In combination with a movable hand brake operator, a steering column, a rockable gear shift operator parallel to said column, and the ignition and lighting circuits of a vehicle; a switch interposed in each of said circuits and normally biased to circuit closing position, a keeper fixed on said gear shift operator, a slide member, means slidably supporting said slide member on said steering column, means connecting said slide member to said brake operator, 9, locking bolt carried by said slide member and adapted to engage said keeper for preventing rocking of said gear shift operator in one position of said slide member, and means operatively connected to said slide member and adapted to engage said switches in said one position of said slide member for moving said switches to circuit breaking position.

WILLIAM H. MULLINS.

WILLIAM M. GENTRY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

